


Darling You

by yenstarkofrivia (jonsasnow)



Category: Ready or Not (2019)
Genre: AU, Daniel has a kid, F/M, Grace is C H A R M E D, Hot Dad Daniel ftw, he's divorced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 09:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27348679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonsasnow/pseuds/yenstarkofrivia
Summary: Grace likes being alone. She's good at being alone. In fact, she finds her own company perfectly delightful.That is until she meets single dad, Daniel, and his adorable, a little-too-honest little girl, Lily.Suddenly, she can't imagine anything worse than being alone.
Relationships: Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Comments: 7
Kudos: 96





	1. Sweeter than Cocoa

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I love this pairing! I love the idea of Single Dad Daniel!  
> Please leave a comment if you have time!

Grace meets Daniel on a cold drizzly afternoon. She is holed up in the corner of a quaint little cafe somewhere in Brooklyn. Although it’s far off the beaten path, the whole cafe is filled to the brim with people today. As a regular, this is a surprise for Grace, especially when she had left the comforts of her apartment – on her day off no less – for this place. She finds solace in at least managing to secure her usual cosy armchair in the back. 

Of course, her moment of peace and quiet is dashed when a man comes running into the cafe, dripping wet, followed by a little girl, who has a plastic bag wrapped around her head. Grace tries not to stare and focus instead on her book but she can’t help looking at the odd pair surreptitiously out of the corner of her eye. She hears the man make his order but she doesn’t catch a name. 

Grace shakes her head and looks back at her book. She doesn’t usually have quiet days like these any more. Now that she is taking on more and more projects, she really needs to savour the precious few hours she actually gets to sit, read and lose herself to the world. 

She’s managed to read one whole page since she stopped trying to eavesdrop on the newcomers when said newcomers walk over to her corner of the cafe.

“Sorry to bother you,” the man begins. “But there aren’t any free seats. Do you mind if we sit here?” 

Grace looks up from her book into dark hazel eyes and a mop of unruly brown hair matted to his forehead. He is really, _really_ cute. It’s the first thing she thinks, which is why it takes her a second too long to reply. She nods. “Oh... Sure. Um, go ahead.” 

Both he and his daughter, she assumes, quickly peel off their jackets and plop down on the sofa opposite Grace. 

“Lily, drink your hot chocolate slowly,” the man says quietly. He has a very pleasant voice, she muses. 

The little girl shakes her head like a wet dog, droplets of water flying everywhere. One lands on Grace’s nose and she wipes it away with the back of her hand, more bemused than anything else.

“Hey!” her dad exclaims as he jumps back, startled. “Are you serious right now? C’mon, kid!” 

Lily giggles with a mischievous glint in her eyes, which Grace notes are identical to her dad’s. “Soooooorrrryyyyyyyyy,” she drawls out. She looks over to Grace and catches her staring at them. “Sorry, miss,” she says again.

The man sighs and reaches over to pull the hood of the girl’s sweater over her head. “Sorry about that. Apparently, I’ve failed to teach her any manners.” 

“It’s because I don’t have a mama,” Lily quips instantly. “She was a stone-cold bitch.” 

“Jesus freaking Christ, Lily!” The man drops his face into his hands. “Language!” 

“But _you_ said it!” 

“And you were supposed to be asleep!” he replies, groaning into his palms. He looks up, his eyes meeting Grace’s. “Once again, I’m so sorry.” 

Grace puts down her book – this is clearly more interesting – and chuckles. “It really is okay. She’s definitely the most interesting kid I’ve ever met.” She offers her hand towards the little girl. “Hi, I’m Grace.” 

She takes it enthusiastically. “I’m Lily! I’m five years old! This is my daddy. His name is Daniel and he’s single!”

“Oh my god,” the man apparently named Daniel sighs. “That’s it. I’m putting you up for adoption.” 

“Nah uh, you can’t!” she sing-songs as if this is a conversation they have every day. “You told Uncle Alex you paid a lot of money for me!”

“I didn’t – that’s not –” Daniel laughs. “I didn’t buy you. I gave your mother money so she would leave us alone.” 

“Oh,” Lily says and nods gravely. “Daddy, what is a bitch?”

Grace snorts, and try as she might, she can’t help the laughter that bubbles out of her. Lily glances towards her and starts giggling too in that way kids do when they think they’ve done something to amuse the adults.

Feeling sorry for the man, Grace steps in. “A ‘bitch’ is a very, very mean person. But you know what’s a better word? Oh no, I don’t think I can tell you. It’s too awful.”

Lily leans forward eagerly, nearly toppling the hot cocoa in front of her. “What! What is it!” 

“ _Butthead_.” 

The little girl gasps and grabs a hold of her dad’s shirt. “Butthead!” 

Daniel laughs softly, catching Grace’s eye. Immediately, there’s this zip of connection that runs through her veins. It catches her off guard and she has to look away. That was new. She had never felt such an intense draw of attraction with anyone before, not when Grace is as closed off and solitary as she is. _And yet..._

“Very nice,” he says to her. “Now she’s going be to saying this for the next month.”

Grace shrugs, pretending not to be as affected as she is by his smile. “Sorry?” 

“No, you’re not,” Daniel points out.

“No, I’m not,” she agrees. 

They both stare at each other but the moment is broken when Lily starts talking again. “Grace, do you want to come to my birthday party?!” 

“Umm –” 

“Lily, c’mon. You can’t just invite strangers to your party,” Daniel says as he flicks his daughter gently on the knee. 

“She’s not a stranger!” Lily protests. “She’s Grace. She’s cool and I like her! Please, please, _please_!” 

“What if she’s a monster in disguise?” Daniel asks his daughter. “We don’t know her. And besides, maybe she’s busy.” 

Lily frowns at this, considering his words. She stands up and walks over to Grace, poking her in the arm. “She doesn’t feel like a monster. Are you a monster?” 

“No, not as far as I’m aware,” Grace says, trying desperately to keep a straight face. 

“So you don’t eat puppies and babies?” 

“Oh, definitely not.” 

“ _Okaaaaaay_. Are you busy on Saturday?” Lily continues with her interrogation. 

Technically, she is. She has to finish designing a logo for the new bakery opening up down the street, but instead, she shakes her head. Grace isn’t too sure what compels her to do that. Maybe it’s the little girl standing before her with a very serious frown on her face. Or maybe it’s her unfairly hot dad who is smiling bemusedly at her with his arms crossed over his chest, the sleeves of his white dress shirt pushed back to his elbows. “No, I’m not.” 

“Good!” Lily claps her hands and looks back towards her dad. “See! She’s free!” 

Daniel chuckles. “You really don’t have to come, but look, she’s not going to let it go unless I properly invite you so here’s my number. Text me and I’ll send you the details.” Lily is squealing beside her. 

“C’mon, kid,” Daniel says, standing up. “It’s time to go.”

It was then that Grace finally notices the sun beginning to shine outside. When had it stopped raining? Had she been so consumed in the father-daughter pair in front of her that she didn’t even notice the softening pitter-patter of rain or the sunlight filtering into the cafe? 

_Apparently so._


	2. Unbelievably Unfair

It takes her far longer than she’d care to admit to find an appropriate present for Lily. Three hours to be exact. It takes nearly as long for Grace to get ready for the little girl’s sixth birthday party. She’s much more ashamed to admit to _that_ than the first. At least the first she can justify the length of time as caring about a little girl’s happiness. The latter, however, is harder to justify because somehow having the ‘hots’ for Lily’s dad feels scummy. 

Grace is here for Lily.

She is not here because Daniel has beautiful hazel eyes and hair so fluffy she wants to run her fingers through. _Or pull,_ she often finds herself thinking, only to groan and chastise herself for it later. 

So it’s been a few months since she’s been on a date and maybe she’s a little touch-starved, in desperate need of someone to push all the right buttons, but that doesn’t mean it’s Daniel. 

He may be divorced but the guy has a _kid_. That’s complicated and Grace does not do complicated. 

She tells herself all of these things as she pulls up to the modest two-storey house. There are multicoloured balloons attached in front to the mailbox. She could already hear the sounds of children screaming from further inside the house. It nearly makes her tell the taxi to turn back around. 

Grace inhales deeply, bracing herself against the headrest of the passenger seat in front of her. She can do this. She’ll give Lily a present, stay for an appropriate amount of time and then leave. 

_Easy_. 

As she steps out of the taxi, Grace smooths down her lilac-coloured sundress. It’s modest, reaching just above the knees, with a very demure neckline. She might have been fantasising about getting into Daniel’s pants since the day she met him but this _is_ a little girl’s birthday party.

Before Grace can even knock, the door is pulled open abruptly to reveal a very severe-looking brunette with a short bob. She eyes Grace up and down, scrutinising in her assessment before she even speaks. “Who are you?” 

Her mouth is dry and she still has the sudden urge to run after her taxi but there’s something about this woman that makes irritation bloom on her skin. Grace steels herself. “I’m a friend of Daniel’s.” It’s the easiest explanation. 

“I’m _sure_ ,” the woman says with a dismissive roll of her eyes. She steps aside and allows Grace to walk through before exiting out the front door and closing it behind her. 

Somehow Grace just knows that that woman is the Stone-Cold Bitch. How such a bright and lovely girl like Lily came from such a witch is a mystery. Grace is sure Lily inherited most of her genes from Daniel. 

Speaking of the birthday girl, Grace barely has time to compose herself when Lily comes barrelling from an adjacent room and throws her arms tightly around Grace’s waist. 

“You came!” 

A whoosh of air leaves Grace’s lips but she hugs the little girl back. “Of course. I couldn’t miss my favourite little girl’s birthday party.” 

Lily eyes Grace curiously as she steps back. “How many little girls do you know?” 

“Well, including you? Hmm.. one?” 

A bark of laughter sounds from behind Grace and she whirls around, her breath catching in her throat. She thought she had bigged him up in her mind but Daniel is as handsome as she remembers. Perhaps even more so now that he isn’t drenched from the rain – except that had its own appeal, she had to admit. 

“That’s already one too many,” Daniel comments and picks Lily up into his arms, pressing a sloppy kiss to her cheeks. Lily squeals and protests but there’s a bright, splitting smile on her face. 

Oh god, she was in so much trouble. 

Before Grace is even able to come up with an appropriate response that doesn’t consist of nonsensical swooning, Lily comes to the rescue by pointing at the gift bag and shouting. “Is that for me!” 

Daniel places her back down and Lily immediately rounds on Grace. 

“I’m not sure what you like,” Grace says. It’s the first time she’s ever felt so awkward around a small child but she finds that she really wants to make Lily happy. “But I hope you like it anyways.” She hands the gift bag to Grace who immediately tears it apart with unparalleled speed. 

It’s a book. There’s an amorphous creature on the front wearing sunglasses, though his head is curved with two humps. As soon as Grace had seen the picture book, she knew she just had to buy it. 

“Mr Butthead Goes to the Zoo?” Daniel reads out loud from over Lily’s shoulder and shakes his head, laughing. “I can’t believe this exists.”

“I! LOVE! IT!” Lily shouts, enunciating each syllable at a decibel that Grace is pretty sure dogs could hear from miles away. Lily drops the book back into the bag and grabs both of Grace’s hands. “You’ll stay to read it, right? Later? For bedtime?” 

“Oh! I… um…” She looks at Daniel for help but the damned man is simply smirking at her, something mischievous crossing his features. He gives her a shrug just as Lily tugs on her hands again. Her eyes are so big, so pleading. Lily could be asking Grace to stab her leg with a fork and she wouldn’t be able to say no, which is how she finds herself nodding wordlessly. 

Lily squeals again, takes her gift bag and races out the door. 

“What just happened?” Grace murmurs in a daze. 

Daniel chuckles from beside her. “That, Grace, is the power of Lily Le Domas. Tiny manipulative mastermind.” 

Grace starts to chuckle with him when it suddenly registers to her what he had just said. “ _Le Domas?_ ” When Daniel doesn’t immediately reply, her voice goes up an octave. “Your family is the Le Domas? As in the Forbes 500 Le Domas family?” 

“Ah, so you’ve heard of us,” Daniel says, rubbing the back of his neck. He looks terribly uncomfortable but nowhere near as much as Grace suddenly felt. 

She couldn’t believe she had come here today thinking she could – god, what _had_ been her game plan? Daniel is not only a single dad with an adorable little girl but he is also the eldest son, the _heir_ , of the Le Domas fortune. No wonder his ex-wife had looked at Grace with such disgust. She is so _way_ out of her depth here.

Hitching her bag higher up her shoulder, Grace laughs nervously. “Oh, you know, just a tiny bit.” She looks towards the entrance and thinks of how she can escape without being so obvious about it. 

Daniel, however, must be able to read her brewing plans when he abruptly takes her by the elbow and pulls her down a corridor. The room at the end is a moderately-sized study with the entire back wall covered in books. There’s an impressive mini bar in one corner that has Grace itching to down that bottle of amber liquid. 

“You’re freaking out, Grace,” he notes with a wry grin. “Does it have anything to do with the fact that I’m a Le Domas or that you just realised you’re here at a six-year-old’s birthday party?” 

“Definitely the first,” she admits with a shaky breath. 

This seems to upset Daniel as he sighs wearily and drops down on the leather sofa. He gestures for Grace to join him. She does so hesitantly. 

“Is it any consolation that I’m no longer in contact with _most_ of my family?”

This does settle some of Grace’s anxiety but not for the reason he thinks. She’s curious. “What? Why?” 

“My family are,” Daniel pauses, looking at Grace’s face. He must see something in her expression because he relaxes and continues. “For lack of a better phrase, they’re basically murderous psychopaths. They’ll do anything to get what they want, no matter who they hurt in the process.” He lets out a humourless laugh. “Rich people are like that though. When you have as much money as we do, you think you can get away with anything.” 

Grace studies his face, just as he had done to her, and places a hand over his arm where it rests between them on the sofa. “You don’t seem like a murderous psychopath.” 

“You don’t know me.” 

“Well, are you?” she questions, unable to remove her hand. He covers it with his own and his thumb strokes her knuckles absentmindedly. 

“I used to be,” Daniel admits. “I would do questionable things, hate myself for it and then try to drink myself to death... It was a cycle I couldn’t stop repeating. At least until Lily was born and then everythingchanged.” 

He smiles, glancing back at Grace when she speaks. “What’d you do?” 

“Well, I knew I had to get Lily out of that hell hole, _so_ I divorced Charity, told her I’d give her all my shares of the company if she relinquished her rights as a parent.” A hard edge came over his eyes then. “Never tell Lily this but that bitch signed those papers so fast the ink had barely dried before she was packed and out of the house.” 

Grace _loathes_ Daniel’s ex-wife. She had faintly disliked her for the judgemental once-over but now she actually loathes her. How could anyone just give up Lily like that?

“Stone-cold bitch, remember?” 

She must’ve asked that out loud without realising, Grace thinks. 

“So now I own a small independent video game company,” Daniel explains. “It’s got a pretty good cult following so we do alright.” He shrugs, though there is so much pride in his voice. “Are you still uncomfortable?”

Grace laughs. “Surprisingly yes.” He looks crestfallen so she barrels through. “Not because you’re a Le Domas! It’s just… you’re now even _more_ perfect and it’s so unbelievably unfair! I mean you’re a single dad who dotes on his daughter. You had the _balls_ to say ‘fuck you’ to your family and all that money which can’t have been easy. You have a successful and cool job. And you’re annoyingly hot. Like it’s just not fair, Daniel. You gotta have a flaw. C’mon.”

There’s surprise, amusement and something like fondness – though she won’t allow herself to really admit that last one – on his face. “I’ve been told I’m a sarcastic pain in the ass.” 

“Still hot,” Grace grumbles. 

This makes Daniel laugh and he shakes his head. “Okay, well, I was such a Rich Boy that when Lily and I moved here, I had to Google how to do laundry because I’d never done it before. We always had maids.” 

Grace grimaces. “Okay, that’s a little better…” 

“I hide everything I feel behind my sarcasm,” he tells her. “Or so my therapist says.” 

“Who doesn’t?” Grace scoffs, though she squeezes his arm to show that she’s happy he shared that. 

“How about this one? It’s a pretty bad one.” Daniel leans in a little closer as if he’s going to whisper. “I’m hitting on a woman I met at a coffee shop a couple of days ago instead of celebrating my daughter’s birthday.” 

Grace’s cheeks burn as she averts her gaze. “That _is_ a pretty bad one.”

“It’s very awful.” 

“I suppose it wouldn’t be _so_ bad if you kissed her and asked her out on a date that doesn’t involve balloons and a bouncy castle.” 

Daniel chuckles, a low grumble in his chest, which alerts Grace to how close he is. She looks up, her breath hitching, and Daniel takes that as his cue to lean forward, his lips slanting against hers. It’s a soft brush, a barely-there touch, that’s just _not enough_ for Grace. Not after everything he had told her; not after everything she’s currently feeling towards this man. 

So when he tries to pull back, Grace grabs him by the collar of his shirt and presses even more insistently against him. His answering groan makes her smile into the kiss. It gets heavy quickly with Daniel pulling Grace practically onto his lap as his need to touch every inch of her grows. On her part, she’s having an equally difficult time remembering why she _shouldn’t_ be trying to unbutton his shirt and feel the warm expanse of skin underneath. 

“We…” Daniel tries to say but Grace nips at his bottom lip and all thoughts go straight out of the window. It takes him another few seconds to speak again. “Gracie…” he murmurs against her lips. 

No one has called her ‘Gracie’ since she was a small child and she knocked them out with a punch to the nose, but somehow it’s not so bad coming from Daniel’s very red and swollen lips. 

“I know,” she sighs but he doesn’t let her go. He just leans his forehead against the juncture between her shoulder and neck, causing goosebumps to race up her spine. 

“You know you’re not exactly fair either,” he says after their heartbeats begin to slow. “Do you even know how unbelievably stunning you are?” 

Grace opens her mouth to speak when there’s a loud: “ _DADDY!_ ” 

The two of them catch each other’s eyes and let out a huff of laughter. 

It’s nearly nine in the evening when Grace accepts that she is well and truly screwed. 

Sandwiched between Lily, who is sleeping soundly against Grace’s chest, and Daniel, whose own chest is pressed against her back, his breathing evening out, Grace knows this is the first time she’s ever felt so _whole_. Growing up in the foster system, the idea of ‘family’ had never been something she entertained for herself, but tonight, she realises she wants _this_ and that scares the crap out of her. 

So yeah, she’s well and truly screwed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!   
> Please leave a review if you have time!
> 
> Just the epilogue left!


	3. Epilogue

It takes 18 months for Grace to move in with Daniel and Lily, though not for lack of trying on the father and daughter’s end. Daniel suggests the idea 8 months into their relationship while they’re wrapped up in each other, legs tangled and skin slick with a sheen of sweat. Grace tells him to shut up and he doesn’t bring it up again until their one-year anniversary. This time, he employs Lily’s help. 

“Wouldn’t it be easier if your stuff was just here all of the time?” Daniel asks casually while cooking dinner.

Lily, who is sat colouring at the breakfast table, looks up. “Then you can be here _all the time_!” After Grace had to break her tiny little heart and explain in as simple terms as she could that it isn’t the right time, she decides to give Daniel the silent treatment for the rest of the evening – at least until he brought out the big guns and coaxed her forgiveness with homemade tiramisu. 

The third time Daniel asks, they’re standing alone on the back porch and looking out into the garden. The world is shrouded in fading sunlight and they’re dressed in black, caught in between shadows and a bright golden glow. Grace’s last foster mum died earlier that week and they had just returned from her funeral. Lily is staying with a friend. 

With his arms wrapped around her waist, Daniel murmurs softly. “Stay.” 

Confused, Grace is just about to ask what he’s talking about since she is already planning on staying the night when he continues. “No, Gracie. I mean _stay_. Stay with us. Let us be your family. Let us erase all those years in the system away.” 

“I can’t just erase it, Daniel. It’s apart of me.”

“Then let’s make new memories together.” He whirls her around to look into her eyes. “I love you. Lily loves you. We both want you to stay.” 

Tears in her eyes, Grace doesn’t respond and just kisses him, but she doesn’t move in. Not yet. She doesn’t know what’s holding her back but it feels a lot like crippling fear. 

The fourth and final time Daniel has to ask Grace to move in is when they both go to pick up Lily at school. It’s a long weekend and they’re planning on going to Cape Cod together, so they decided to leave as soon as school let out.

Lily spots them immediately and begins tugging on her friends’ hands towards them. 

“That’s my dad!” Grace could hear her say with a bright smile. “And that’s my mom! Isn’t she pretty?”

Grace freezes. She doesn’t think she even remembers how to breathe until she feels Daniel’s hand on her lower back and a low, “Gracie, you’re freaking out.” 

A long exhale of breath later, she has Lily in her arms, the little girl talking animatedly about what she learned at school, none the wiser that her simple words had rocked Grace’s world upside down. 

After depositing Lily in the backseat, Daniel pulls her tightly to him, just on the verge of being too impolite for a school parking lot. “Are you still freaking out?” he asks, smirking, as he drops a kiss to her lips. Grace shakes her head but she’s still a little dazed. He chuckles. “We love you. What do you expect?”

Grace rolls her eyes and feels like stepping on his feet but she refrains, just barely. “Ask me again,” she says instead. 

Daniel arches his brow and his smirk grows. “Which one? Move in with me? Marry me?” 

Her breath hitches and this time, she _does_ step on his foot. “Yes to the first. Hell no to the second.” Daniel laughs and kisses her once last time before he walks around to the driver’s seat. 

Grace moves in the following weekend. 

It takes 6 more months for Grace to say yes to the second question, and this time, Daniel only had to ask twice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd it's over!
> 
> Yay! Thanks for reading!
> 
> Please leave a comment if you have time!


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